When I was ten years old at a summer camp I was leading in the potato sack race. To check on my competitors I looked over my shoulder and suddenly tripped and fell. I came in last place. Even the slowest person, Marsh Mellow Matt beat me. It was humiliating. But in the end I gained a good learning experience.When a bargain-brand product attacks your premium-brand space, is it still healthy to look over your shoulder? Will you trip over too?In a robust economy it’s relatively easy to maintain profitable growth of a premium-brand product. Conversely, in today’s economy, the competitive forces are testing the best of us. We are entering a new paradigm of business and the days of conspicuous consumption are quickly receding. Since 2007 over 8 million jobs have been lost. We have chronic unemployment at 10%, or in reality its 17% when you add the people who gave up looking for a job. As fear, insecurity, and the need to be frugal enter the consciousness of consumers, companies are responding by introducing lower price bargain-brand products. What’s a premium-brand to do?There are three strategies a premium-brand can consider; (1) Introduce your own bargain-brand, (2) Innovate a new value product category (3) Or, maintain status quo. Let’s consider the ramifications of deploying your own Bargain-Brand.As Jacqueline Kennedy once said, “I don’t react, I respond.”There’s a saying, “Never fight a pig because you’ll get muddy and the pig will enjoy it.” The same goes for a premium-brand looking to protect its market share against a bargain-brand. Every day we see new bargain airlines, bargain consumer products, bargain cars, bargain food, and bargain electronics. Be careful of the panic reaction when you deploy short term tactics in price discounting and couponing. It may only deplete profits. You can hold the line, but can you afford customers who defect to lower price brands. As Jacqueline Kennedy once said, “I don’t react, I respond.”Seek your uniquenessThere are no right answers, but a journey of discovery will help determine your strengths, weaknesses, and uniqueness. In a recent book by Dr. Caroline Leaf, called, The Gift In You, this PhD. Researcher discovered there are seven layers of thinking processes in our minds. The seven layers of thinking processes are: Intrapersonal, Interpersonal, Math/Logic, Visual/Spatial, Music, Kinesthetic, and Linguistic. Starting from the most dominant thinking process, when a new thought enters our mind it will loop into the seven layers in a different sequential order. For example, someone who thinks first in music will be able to read between the lines to give meaning to it. While a logic/math dominant thinker performs pattern recognition in huge numbers and reasons in a precise order. We all see the world differently and think differently. We are all unique and so are our companies and the way we collective process our thinking. As such it’s fruitless to be like someone else such as Steve Jobs. None of us can think like him and nor do we want to. We must learn to be ourselves by knowing our uniqueness and using it to your advantage.Are you an elephant or a cheetah?As Shakespeare once said, “To thine own self be true.” In other words, do you have the competencies to compete as a Bargain-Brand?When launching a new product you’ll have to adjust and adapt quickly. Is your company a cheetah that can move quickly and adapt to consumer and market changes? Or, are you a slow moving elephant that makes decisions at a sluggish pace? A slow moving elephant should think twice when competing against fast moving bargain-brand cheetahs.GM was slow to introduce Saturn to compete against the Japanese, but Intel was quick to respond to constant AMD attacks. At first, Intel’s bargain-brand chips (Celeron) performed poorly, but they responded quickly to the market and beat AMD at their own game.Will you divide and conquer yourself?Julius Caesar’s strategy to overcome the enemy was to divide and conquer. When launching a Bargain-Brand, you might be dividing your resources and placing your entire organization into a weak position. Without sufficient resources, people, and focus, both your premium and bargain brand products could become diluted and fail. If the Bargain-Brand fails then you’ll have the added cost and time of cleaning up plus the cost and time to rebuild the Premium-Brand.It cost GM $15 Billion to launch and maintain the Saturn division. Delta Airlines launched Ted Airlines and lost billions too. These two elephants didn’t understand their uniqueness nor able to response quickly to market changes. Rather they copied the competition thinking that would satisfy the market.On the other hand, fifty years ago, Anheuser-Busch was facing a low-price assault from regional players which opened up a whole new market category. Anheuser-Busch responded by opening up another company that was completely separate from the parent company; perhaps you’ve heard of Busch Beer.Are you looking at your customers or just your competition?The famous basketball coach John Wooden won more college basketball championships than anyone else. Part of his success was to never allow one player to be compared to another. Rather, each player was judged by his own skills, performances, and productivity. Companies trying to copy Bargain-Brands don’t have the same competencies, people, collective thinking processes, and experiences like their competition. Look at Steve Jobs and his string of successful products; iPod, iPhone, iTunes, etc. Therefore, don’t copy your competition, rather seek what is good for the customer and use your uniqueness to develop your product.Know thy customerThis is a key time to study your customer to determine their true needs and the perceived value of your offering. Advances in Neuromarketing have discovered that traditional marketing research can fall short in truly understanding how a customer receives your message. Each year billions of dollars are spent on traditional market research and still 80% of new product launches fail. Neuromarketing will give you insight on the emotional needs of your audience and how they will perceive your messaging and marketing.The power of Neuromarketing starts with the engagement of our seven senses; (1) Taste, (2) Smell, (3) Hearing (4) Touch, (5) Sight, (6) Humor, and (7) Intuition. To make it all work one must understand the power of association that directly impacts our emotional brain and how past experiences are recalled when we encounter a brand experience. Walk into a Whole Foods Store and you’re bombarded with a cornucopia of beautiful food, fresh baked bread, brewed coffee, and desserts turned into art. You’re flooded with emotions of mom, home, security, abundance, and happiness. The experience is frequently joyful and you’re willing to pay premium prices for their products.The power of association will engage our senses to recall positive experiences that we will tie to the brand. Called somatic markers, they represent a total compilation of emotions, negative associations, and positive associations. When a woman is given a light blue box with a white ribbon, the Tiffany brand and blue color evoke strong feminine emotions. When we think of a well branded product, such as Coach, Chanel, Harley Davidson and Tiffany, many of us experience an emotional and somewhat sensual positive response. A good brand tied to Neuro-marketing should offer:o A great experience that exceeds customer’s expectations
o A clarification of the value of the product
o A decision by the prospect to consider purchasing itHow we associate products with past experiences can determine our purchasing considerations. Mr Lindstrom in Buyology highlighted a few examples such as;
o Light blue for a woman can be associated with engagement, marriage, babies, and fertility. Pink is associated with luxury, sensuality, and being feminine.
o Color will increase brand recognition by 80% and represents up to 50% in the decision making process to choose a brand product.
o People will buy more out of love (53%) versus sex (26%).
o Be authentic, transparent, and real. We buy from people we can relate to.Don’t let your Bargain-Brand cannibalize the profits of your Premium-Brand.
If you decide on launching a Bargain-brand be sure you are capturing the right revenue. If one part of your target audience is not profitable with your premium-brand and your bargain-brand can capture that profit, then go for it. On the other hand, if your Bargain-brand is going to cannibalize your premium-brand profits then reconsider your options.It’s essential that your bargain-brand have a different perceived value, messaging, and pricing. Years ago Kodak came out with a bargain-brand film that had little distinction from the premium brand. Customers went for the lower price product cannibalizing profits from the premium-brand. On the other hand, when P&G purchased Luv’s Diapers brand, it repositioned it as a bargain-brand. Their Pampers brand was given greater features and advertising thus creating a higher perceived value.Must Develop a Difference in Perception and Value
If you offer a bargain-brand, then your goal is to offer two products with much separation in value and messaging. You’ll want to consider using Neuromarketing research techniques. It is essential that the premium product maintain its true value benefits while the lower-price brand act and look like a bargain-brand one. By acting like a bargain-brand, you’ll be able to cut costs on marketing, support, operations, and production and thereby creating the gross margin to compete effectively on price. You may want to use a hot button here to connect people to your article on Neuromarketing.When Anheuser-Busch rolled out Busch Beer they created a whole new company and identity. They invested in new distribution, new trucks, and new sales people to ensure that the Premium-brand and Bargain-brand were not confused but optimized.Don’t recreate the wheel or build a new organization unless there’s a market for it
GM invested $15 Billion in Saturn and it failed. Is your goal to market a Bargain-Brand or build a new company?Consider your resources, sales volume, and gross margins. Your goal is to make a profit. If your Premium-brand cannot serve another large market, then a new organization, such as starting up a discount airline division or Busch Beer may be an answer. On the other hand, if your premium-brand can cover the market then re-consider your options. As I mentioned earlier, GM spent $15 Billion on the new Saturn division, when their existing product lines at Buick and Chevy reached the same target audience.The Final Strategy to Consider: Innovate a new product category
A recent book called Blue Ocean Strategy stated that it is sometimes better to innovate a new product than to compete in blood thirsty waters or Red Ocean. Look at the crowded fields of electronic consumer products, automobiles and food. When you launch a new product in these categories how do you stand out?Conversely, companies will innovate new products developing a new category where there is no competition; hence Blue Ocean. Years ago Sony launched the Walkman. Apple introduced the iPod and iPhone. An example in Blue Ocean Strategy was the Casella Winery from Australian who wanted to launch a new wine in a very crowded and snooty category.A strategy based on innovation will look at different customers with shared commonalties. In the crowded wine business, more wineries did not think of looking for low budget beer drinkers. The Casella winery saw things differently and believed beer drinkers would want wine if the purchase decision was made simple and fun. Out came Yellow Tail wine in simple red and white versions.A blue ocean is created when a company achieves value innovation that creates value simultaneously for both the buyer and the company. The innovation (in product, service, or delivery) must raise and create value for the market, while simultaneously reducing or eliminating features or services that are less valued by the current or future market.The lesson I learned in the potato sack race was easy, keep your eye on the goal line not what your competition is always doing. John Wooden’s success was doing the best he could possibly do every day. As you consider your premium brand, think about the best you can do every day with it. As any typical SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) and PESTEL analysis (Political, Economic, Social, Technology, Environmental, Legal) you should consider:Are you an elephant or a cheetah organization?
Will your Bargain -Brand cannibalize your Premium -Brand profits?
Do you have the resources to run two brands simultaneously at a profit?
Are you able to clearly define and communicate the different unique selling proposition for each brand?
Will the customer perceive the differences?
Will your current Premium-Brand cover this market? Or is the Bargain-Brand a new demographic?
Lastly, do you innovate a new product to create a new category and target audience?As Jacqueline Kennedy once said, “I don’t react, I respond.” Panic and fear should not be part of your tactics, but a well thought out response that optimizes your resources, strengths, and uniqueness in meeting the needs and wants of your customer.

Without a doubt, the SuperBowl is this countries singe biggest day for Advertisers. This years SuperBowl spots are running a cheap $2.7 million for 30 seconds. With companies paying such large amounts of money for these ads, you would think everyone would be a hit. But that’s not the case with 2008. In fact, many people are saying 2008 SuperBowl commercials may be the worse in years.Here’s a review of the popular commercials that will air on SuperBowl Sunday.

Godaddy stated back in August that they would not be airing a SuperBowl commercial this year. However, it looks like they changed their minds as they will have a SuperBowl commercial directing people to go their website and view a racy Danica Patrick video. Godaddy says Fox rejected the ad because it’s too racy. I don’t think their current commercial is all that great. If I’m Godaddy, I’m getting Danica Patrick in front of SuperBowl watchers anyway I can, even if it means she’s dressed in Grandma clothes with no makeup!

Pepsi is airing a commercial about a couple deaf guys trying to find their deaf friends house. It’s not the funniest commercial this year, but I guarantee you many people will be checking to see if they accidentally hit their mute button.

Hyandai isn’t airing a funny commercial. They’re airing a commercial “to make people thing” according to a corporate press release. “Earth to Hyandai, the last thing people want to do during the SuperBowl is to think.” It will be interesting to see if people like the Hyandai commercial.

Bud Light, the mainstay of funny SuperBowl commercials, have several in store for viewers. I’ve seen them and they’re “okay” with a couple funny ones, but nothing as good as the ones they’ve had in years past.

Doritos has a SuperBowl commercial that was chosen by Internet voters. It’s all about musicians without a recording contract. The winning commercial gets the SuperBowl spot. I’m not sure how Doritos thinks this will increase sales, only time will tell.

Gatorade is coming back to the SuperBowl commercial spots with commercials for their two new drinks called G2 and Gatorade Tiger (named after Tiger Woods, who helped develop the product). They’re not my favorite of this years crop of SuperBowl commercials.

Car.Com will be a newcomer to the SuperBowl commercials. I saw the preview and wasn’t impressed. I doubt many others will be also.

KFC is getting on the wrong side of the NFL this year by offering the first player that does the “Chicken Dance” in the endzone $260,000. NFL said this is undermining the dignity of the Game. Yeah, like many of the Bad Boys of the NFL involved in juicing, crime and drugs aren’t undermining the dignity of the game? C’mon NFL, you can do better than that!

Pepsi is using Justin Timberlake to push their soda on this years SuperBowl spot. It has been remored that Justin did his own stunts. That still doesn’t make this SuperBowl commercial a hit.

Garmin has a new ad ready for this years SuperBowl. I have to tell you, I wasn’t impressed with last years entry and this one isn’t much better in my opinion, but some of you might find it funny.
That’s the big players in the SuperBowl commercial runs this year. I’m sure there might be a few surprises. If there are, I hope they’re a lot better than this years crop of SuperBowl commercials. At this rate, our Wives and Girlfriends may stop watching the Game with us because the SuperBowl commercials are lousy!

Investment is important from many points of view. Before doing investment, it is essential to understand what is investment and its importance?”Investment is an act of investing money to earn the profit. It is the first step towards the future security of your money.”Need of InvestmentThe investment can help you in the future if invested wisely and properly. As per human nature, we plan for a few days or think to plan for investment, but do not put the plan into action. Every individual must plan for investment and keep aside some amount of money for the future. No doubt, the future is uncertain and it is required to invest smartly with some certain plan of actions that can avoid financial crisis at point of time. It can help you to bring a bright and secure future. It not only gives you secure future, but also controls your spending pattern.Important Factors of InvestmentsPlanning for Financial investment – Planning plays a pivotal role in all fields. For the financial investment, one must have a pertinent plan by taking all rise and fall situations of the market. You should have a good knowledge of investment before planning for financial investment. Keen observation and focused approach are the basic needs for successful financial investment.Invest according to your Needs and Capability- The purpose behind the investment should be clear by which you can fulfil your needs from the investment. In investment, financial ability is also a component that can bring you satisfaction and whatever results you want. You can start investment from a small amount as per your capability. You should care about your income and stability to choose the best plan for you.Explore the market for available investment options – The investment market is full of opportunities, you can explore the market by applying proper approach. You can take help from financial planners, managers who have thorough knowledge about investment in the market. Explore the possibility of investment markets and touch the sublime height of success by the sensible investment decisions.By taking help from an experienced, proficient financial planner and traders can also give you confidence to do well in the field of investment. Now the question strikes the mind that what are the types of investments?Types of InvestmentsMutual Funds- Basically the mutual fund is a managed investment fund in which money is pulled from the investors to buy the securities.Commodity Market- In India, it is a popular place of traders to invest their money. The commodity market comprises of MCX (Multi Commodity Exchange) and NCDEX (National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange) both. In Multi Commodity Exchange market, you can invest in crude oil, precious metals as gold, silver and base metals as copper, aluminium, nickel, zinc and many more. While in National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange market, you can invest in all agricultural commodities as guar, soya bean, cotton, sugar cane and many more.Stock Market- It is the place where various people trade globally and earn the maximum return on investment. However, it is essential to know the bull and bear of the stock market for investing in it. The Stock market for investment also includes the equity market and nifty market. You can invest in equities and nifty market and get good amount profit by focused approach and keen analysis of market trend.Bonds – It is the best ways to gain interest on your principal amount. The interest and period of time depends on the agreement. In this, a holder lends a particular amount to the issuer (borrower) for a fixed period of time. At this time, you will get the interest from the borrower and after completing that fixed period of time borrower will return back your money. A long term tool for financial investment.Fixed Deposits – The Fixed Deposit (FD) service is provided by various banks that offers investors a higher rate of interest on their deposits as compared to a regular savings account. Fixed deposits have the maturity date to gain the return on investment.Real Estate- One can also invest in the real estate and deal with the residential and commercial property. This is also a trending way to earn a good return on investment.There are various financial planners, financial managers, trading tips provider who can give you numerous options for investment in the market. But it is essential to choose the options wisely.